Once harvest fruit hits the crush pad, the cellar takes over. We test every juice for pH, acid, and YANs, press the whites and cold-soak the reds, and then I'm in daily contact with every ferment — tasting, smelling, watching brix. On the reds we manage the cap with pump-overs, hand punch-downs, and the Aerosmith air-powered mixer we helped test a couple of years ago.
- Harvest in full swing — reds and whites rolling in daily
- Every juice gets tested for pH, acid, and YANs
- Whites are pressed, settled, racked, then warmed and inoculated
- Daily ferment checks: taste, smell, brix, temperature
- Cap management on reds uses pump-overs, hand punch-downs, and the Aerosmith
- The cellar crew keeps everything sanitized and moving
Harvest is in full swing, and while the vineyard gets most of the spotlight this time of year, I want to bring you inside the cellar — right after the fruit hits the crush pad. This is where the real transformation begins.
The First Tests: pH, Acid, and YANs
Once the grapes arrive, we test the juice for pH, acid, and YANs — yeast assimilable nutrients. Those early numbers help us decide how to treat the juice and what it might need to support a clean, complete fermentation later on. A juice that's too low on YANs can stick mid-fermentation. One with a high pH might need a small acid adjustment to keep the wine fresh and stable.
For whites, we press immediately, settle the juice in tank, rack it off the heavy lees, and then slowly warm and inoculate. The goal with whites is brightness and clarity — the cleaner the juice when we start, the cleaner the wine when we finish.
Daily Contact with Every Ferment
In the meantime, I'm in daily contact with every ferment. Tasting, smelling, running lab samples, and watching temperatures and brix as fermentation begins. We want to guide the wine along its path, not force it — so attention to detail matters every single day.
Some ferments run hot and fast. Others want to take their time. The difference matters more than people realize. A slow, cool ferment will preserve more aromatics. A warmer, faster one will pull more color and structure. Reading each tank and knowing when to nudge it — and when to leave it alone — is most of the job at this stage.
Cap Management on the Reds
Our cellar crew is running nonstop. On red fermentations, cap management is key. During cold soak, we do up to four pump-overs a day to extract gentle, water-soluble tannins from the skins. Later, once alcohol starts to form, we scale back to twice a day — pushing further at that stage can pull harsh seed tannins that throw the wine out of balance.
We've got three tools for the job: traditional pump-overs, hand punch-downs, and a newer system called the Aerosmith — a gentle air-powered mixer we helped test a couple of years ago that's become one of our favorite tools. The Aerosmith is gentler on the skins than a mechanical punch-down, but it gets the cap submerged better than a pump-over alone. Each tank gets the technique that suits the wine we want.
Every Tank at a Different Stage
Right now, every tank and bin is at a different stage, and the cellar is buzzing. We're managing fermentations, pressing whites, keeping the lab running, cleaning everything constantly, and prepping for the next fruit to roll in. It's a lot to juggle, but this is what we live for. If you want to see what comes out the other side, our wine club ships these wines once they're ready.
– Hoss Milone, Winemaker
Hoss Milone is the Winemaker at Brutocao Family Vineyards, a role he has held since 2009. A fourth-generation Mendocino winemaker, Hoss produces small-lot estate wines from 450+ acres across three Hopland vineyards.
Featured Wine
Brutocao Chardonnay
Sourced from our Bliss Vineyard in Hopland, Mendocino County. The kind of clean, bright white that lives or dies on the cellar work Hoss describes here.
